O'Toole opts out in another blow to Westmeath

The Westmeath senior football squad has been dealt another major blow with the news that key forward Ronan O’Toole is taking a year out of inter-county action.

O'Toole, who generally operates as a playmaker from the centre-forward position, was an All Star nominee in 2023 and was chosen as the Tailteann Cup Player of the Year in 2022. The talented attacker won another Westmeath SFC medal with St Loman's, Mullingar last year.

It was notable that O'Toole was not involved in a recent challenge match against Clare, with his St Loman's teammate Sam McCartan selected at number 11 for that encounter.

The absence of O'Toole means that, from the team which started Westmeath's competitive game - the defeat to Derry in the All-Ireland SFC group stages last June - at six players are now unavailable.

Long-serving trio Kevin Maguire (Caulry), James Dolan (Garrycastle) and John Heslin (St Loman's) have retired, while David Lynch (St Malachy's) and Andy McCormack (Rosemount) are now based abroad. O'Toole scored three points for Westmeath in that aforementioned 2-7 to 0-9 defeat to Derry at Páirc Esler, Newry.

Dermot McCabe's first competitive match in charge of Westmeath is the Allianz Football League Division 2 opening round clash against Louth this Sunday (TEG Cusack Park, 2pm).

Considering the number of quality and experienced players now unavailable, Westmeath face a daunting challenge to secure their place in Division 2.